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Lethal Control Essay

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The lethal control of cats is controversial and is a challenge in cat management. Lethal control occurs at different scales, ranging from individuals to populations. Eradication programs have mostly been done on islands and have used a variety of methods to eradicate cat populations. This allows for venerable/sensitive species to recover in often fragile and unique environments. Nogales et al, (2004) noted that cats have been eradicated from 48 islands, the methods used were hunting, trapping, poisoning, and the use of viral disease.
Shooting is often used in wildlife management. The humaneness of shooting is dependent on the ability of the shooter (DEFRA, 2005). Shooting is often combined with trapping and poisoning to remove the remaining cats from islands (Bester et al, 2000). Shooting is target-specific and generally humane, but requires alot of time and labour, and is most suited to smaller areas such as islands (Sharp & Saunders, 2005). Van Rensberg & Bester (1988) reported that when cat numbers were low on the island, shooting was very successful in killing the last remaining cats.
Diseases such as Feline Panleucopenia have been used on islands in efforts to control cat populations. It works either by direct transmission or by persisting in the environment and then is acquired …show more content…

Traps could be influenced by factors including, weather, hunger, activity of target species, sex or reproductive condition (King & Edgar, 1977). Lee (1995) tested cages and soft-jawed traps and found that soft-jawed traps were more effective than cage traps. However, there was by-catch in the soft jawed traps. Domm & Messersmith (1990) reported that they abandoned trapping for cat control because of the time and manpower needed. Short et al, (1997) evaluated different control methods including; trapping, poisoning, spotlight shooting and found that trapping was the most successful, but also required the most

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